1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to an ultrasound probe and a method of manufacturing the ultrasound probe.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus irradiates ultrasounds to an object such as a human being or animal and detects an echo signal reflected from the object to thereby display a tomographic image of tissue on a monitor and provide information necessary for diagnosis of the object. To do so, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasound probe for transmitting an ultrasound to the object and receiving an echo signal from the object.
The ultrasound probe has a transducer mounted therein for converting an ultrasound signal into an electrical signal and vice versa. The transducer generally includes a set of a plurality of piezoelectric elements. Thus, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus having the above-described configuration irradiates an ultrasound to an object, converts a reflected ultrasound echo signal into an electrical signal, and generates an ultrasound image by using the electrical signal.
Such an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus using an ultrasound probe is used for medical purposes such as detection of foreign substances within a living body, measurement of the degree of injury, monitoring of tumors, observation of fetuses, etc.
An ultrasound probe is typically fabricated by manufacturing components thereof separately before assembling them together. However, this assembling method may not only cause a failure in a junction between the components but also make it difficult to reduce the size of the ultrasound probe.